Epilogue

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Two year old Ruhi sat on her father's lap with her hair put in two bunches. She turned to her mother, who was driving beside them, and said, "Don't scold daddy, okay?" That day was different, so she had to take some measures against her mother. Unlike every day where she would accompany her parents to work, today she was going to have a date with her grandmothers.

"Huh!" Geetha rolled her eyes and did not bother with the little girl, who was showing off her newly acquired power of talking.

"Daddy, tell me if she scolds you again, okay?"

"Okay!" Ramit smiled. Ruhi's thumb was on the seat belt. He adjusted it a little to make it more comfortable for the little girl.

"What will you do? Huh? Just wait until next June. I'll put you in school," Geetha threatened. That morning she did scold him for not folding his blanket even after it had been an hour since he woke up.

"Daddy!" She complained.

Geetha sighed. Her daughter was an idiot. Didn't she just ask Ramit to tell her his grievances as if she would do something about them? Now she turned to him to complain.

"How long is she going to be stupid?" Geetha asked with genuine concern. Since Ramit and she were intelligent, her daughter would definitely turn out smart too. But somehow Ruhi was only a sliver smarter than when she was born.

"Where is she stupid? You are the one you who is too stupid to understand her!" Ramit did not mind her opinion on other issues and often sided with her, but when it came to their daughter, there was no way he was going to let her say stupid things!

Ruhi immediately gave her father a candy. He was definitely not going to let her go to school, she thought. Some time ago, her parents put her in preschool. She cried too much for the teacher to handle, although her father stayed with her the whole time. So she was sent back home. Everybody knew she hated school, much less her daddy.

Geetha sighed looking at them. The chocolate Ruhi awarded Ramit with was pulled out of her bag right in front of her eyes. More importantly, her husband also seemed to have gone stupid under her daughter's influence.

∼•∽

They soon reached their destination. Shanti had come over just then. As soon as Ruhi saw the older women, she ran to them in delight.

"Maa, how are you?" Geetha greeted her mother-in-law and decided to ignore her mother. Last time she finally asked her mother to write down some recipes for her. Her mother asked if YouTube failed her. Geetha simply walked out after that as she remembered how she rebelled against her mother when she offered to teach her during college. Her mother's memory was very good. She indeed retaliated saying she'd learn from YouTube on her own.

"Good. How are you two?"

"We're good," Ramit said.

They were amazing, in fact. Their relationship was what anyone would dream of.

He smiled as his thoughts flew back to the last of Ruhi's date like this. His mother and Geetha's mother had apparently told Geetha about how she played with him when she was a baby. When he came to know of the women's reminiscence, which included Geetha responding to his name, he tried to tease her. He thought she would be embarrassed. In the end he was the one who got teased instead as she boasted how it meant that she was destined to be his wife since so young.

"No! Mommy scolds daddy!" Ruhi interrupted. It was fun to talk! So she was not giving up any opportunity if she had something she could say to her adults.

Hearing that, Shanti slapped Geetha's shoulder lightly. For one, she blatantly ignored her. Thankfully, Ramit greeted her. If not, she would have felt so out of place. She said to Ramit, "If she does anything wrong, tell me quickly."

By now, Shanti had gotten all the information from her friend. She had forced her into giving everything out, and she succeeded. From then on, every time she saw Ramit, she hit Geetha a little in front of him. At first it was an expression of apology. Nowadays it was more about putting her daughter on the spot for her brow raising behaviour.

Geetha glared at her mother before she turned to her mother-in-law. "Maa, you know right? I take great care of your son," she said, tapping on her chest thrice.

Ramit grabbed that hand and put it down. "You do realise you're the wife and I'm the husband, right?"

"Tsk. So what?" his mother said. She was very proud of her daughter-in-law, such a perfect one for her son!

Just then, Rahul came and greeted them all. He was ready to go to work. His anger toward Geetha faded when Ramit said he was as happy as he could ever be because of her, and that she had the MBA that he had ditched. His scowl finally eased. He was helpless to their cheekiness, more so, towards his granddaughter's.

He staggered to them and pulled one of Ruhi's bunches and smiled at her. "Grandpa will come back soon!" He staggered out of the door, eager to return home soon.

"We should also get going," Geetha said.

"Okay!" Ruhi was too happy to see her mother off. She quickly went and hugged her father and patted his shoulder when he lifted her up, silently telling him he was going to be okay without her.

Later she played with her grandmothers under their loving gaze.

∼•∽

In the office, Geetha was in her own, all white, cabin. She completely took over the management side of the business to let Ramit get creative with his algorithms peacefully. The technology department became the most pampered one. It was their backbone after all.

Veeru was still working for them and he no longer feared Geetha. She became more flexible and forgiving. Those under her could feel the dread in her room as they accounted for their mistakes. But that was what it would be. She just said a few words and let them off. The instances where she really got angry and put extra burden on them were only a handful now.

Hidden's fifth anniversary was a month away and this time, they were hosting a conference to inspire more journalists to join them, for collaborations, and for publicity of the trust they gained. They were now financing their costs out of their profits, having just paid back all the loans they had taken since inception, especially during the transition. Their progress was slow but steady.

When it was time for lunch, Ramit knocked on her door and pushed it in. He used to walk right in, but one time, he opened it right when she was also about to open it, thus hitting her nose. She did not get angry at all. Instead, she smiled at him while rubbing her nose before he could say sorry.

"Whose wedding is it now?" he said, looking at an unfamiliar invitation card on her table.

Geetha handed it to him. It was from a girl in the finance department. Since they were one family, they got only one invitation. Both of them were always amused about whom their employees chose to give their invitations to. There was no rule to this and they looked for reasons why someone chose him or her. Ramit would laugh at her analyses but she said it was key to understanding them better.

He set it down. It was the wedding season and they had quite a few to attend, some even overlapped. This one coincided with Preethi's.

"Let's go."

Both of them walked out.

In the corridor, Geetha pulled Ramit's sleeve, asking him to bend. "What is he trying to do with someone older than him again?"

Ramit sighed. Vyan got close to a new employee when Preethi announced her engagement. "At least, she's only a year older this time," he whispered back.

During lunch, none of their employees would approach them. It was a general understanding that the couple had many secrets among themselves. When they were by themselves, they were always seen talking and laughing. But when someone joined wanting a share of that liveliness, they both became silent and the lunch turned awkward for the outsider. Even their cute daughter was the same.

She was a very playful girl. She climbed onto her father's head and spoiled her mother's saree pallu despite being strictly warned not to wipe her mouth there. What could the little girl do? She hated to see her handkerchiefs, on which her grandmothers had embroidered cute animals, have any mess on them.

Her naughtiness made the couple restless. Some young colleagues sometimes finished their lunch in advance and asked them to have their meal in peace while they watched their daughter.

Geetha would be happy and directly pick her from Ramit's shoulders and hand her to them. The girl would flail her arms and kick her legs in the air, vehemently disagreeing, until they took her. Once with them, she would become silent. She would not play with them nor laugh at their antics. She would simply stare at them, only responding when asked something.

∼•∽

In the evening, Abhay called Ramit and told him to be home soon since he was going to visit. Ramit sent a message to Geetha about it.

The next hour, Geetha came and stood before him. Seeing that he was too involved in his work, she did not disturb and sat down.

When Ramit noticed her, he said, "Almost done."

She walked over to him. Under her gaze he dragged the mouse around in order to shut the system down. The arrow went out of the screen.

"Just use the keyboard! We should still go and pick Ruhi up." Geetha said, irked at the issue. Who thought it was fun to let the pointer get lost! She had told him to reduce using the mouse since it wasted a few seconds every time like this.

"I forgot..."

She pressed a few buttons and the screen said 'shutting down' in a blink. "Win X, U, U!" This was the third time she was repeating it for him. "Learn them! You'll save us a lot of time. A few seconds every day, a few hours every year."

"Okay, okay. I will." He smiled. The first time she told him, she even added that none of the cool hackers she had seen in the movies ever had their hands on a mouse.

She was still the same in this aspect. Then she was selfish about her time, now she was selfish about both of their time.

They soon left the office but were delayed at her mother-in-law's house. Finally back home, the bell rang as soon as they freshened up.

This time Deepali also came along. It had been a long time since Geetha last met her. The women hugged eachother.

Abhay hugged Ruhi as soon as he came in and lifted her high up in the air as she giggled. "Bless me, little devil. I'm getting married!"

Ruhi put up her right arm and slightly bent her palm, imitating the goddess in the pooja room.

Abhay laughed throwing his head back. "Thank you!"

He set her down and told them about his marriage. He had been engaged to Deepali for two whole years but the engagement ceremony with their families happened only 4 months ago, after quite some tussle since there had been resistance from both sides.

After formally handing out the wedding invitation, upon some insistence they stayed for dinner. Geetha and Ramit cooked while Ruhi imparted some knowledge about killer whales upon Abhay and Deepali after being coaxed to talk more by them.

When Ramit came out of the kitchen, she jumped off the sofa, ran to him, and hugged him.

Seeing this, Geetha asked her to quietly sit with the guests.

Ruhi stuck her tongue out.

Geetha raised her ladle with an angry face and Ruhi instinctively climbed Ramit all the way up to his head, clutching his shirt and stamping hard on his body to gain enough momentum.

Ramit quickly caught her hands and didn't release them since the fans were on.

Abhay said to Geetha, "She definitely took after you."

Geetha frowned and nodded. She felt good, although she did not consider it a compliment.

All through dinner, Ruhi sat on Ramit's shoulder and rested her chin on his head. Her father's hair was softer than any pillow. She pointed at her favourite items in Ramit's plate and he carefully lifted them to her mouth.

Later, Ruhi fell asleep by the time Abhay and Deepali left. Geetha placed her in the centre of the bed and put a few pillows on the sides.

Then, she found Ramit in the study, sitting at the table with his laptop. He was working hard.

She watched him for sometime. He was too immersed in his work to notice her.

She smiled.

Her life felt fulfilling. Moments like these, silent, trivial, and fleeting, became her cherished treasures. She would trade nothing for the warmth her home held. Everyday counted, more than her books and museums, more than her solo treks and long drives. Before, those were an escape from the world, and from home. Now, home was an escape from the world.

All because of that guy, who was struggling right then since he did not take the mouse in order to force himself not to use it, who did everything he could for her, who could make her eyes sparkle, and who made their future seem immensely happy and beautiful, and brighter than the sun.

She walked to him smiling a little more. She could not help it.

"Don't your shoulders hurt?" She asked and rubbed his shoulders. "What are you doing? Something urgent?"

"No. Just a few minutes." He looked up and smiled, pointing to his neck muscle. Thanks to his daughter, his wife was getting better at giving him a massage.

When he was done, he shut the system with the shortcut.

He got up and hugged her. He gave her a mysterious smile before catching her off-guard with a kiss. It was a safe day, he had just checked. They were definitely not ready for another naughty child yet.

"It's late! Ruhi is already sleeping. In the middle!" They had a hectic day. She just wanted him to go to bed soon, because she was already sleepy.

"Hm... I can put her in the crib without waking her."

He tiptoed into the bedroom and picked the girl up. Slowly and carefully, he shifted her to the crib beside. She slept with a smile.

Then he turned to Geetha with a victorious smile on. He signalled for her to get to bed with a nod of his head.

What could Geetha do? Her eyes glinted with mischief. She jumped on him before he overturned her. They were going to get wild silently that night, just like every time when Ruhi was not at one of their parents' homes. That was rather usual.

Later, Geetha was almost asleep. "I love you," Ramit whispered to her as he kissed her head between her eyebrows and held her close.

"I love you more!" Geetha stressed, finally slipping into a deep slumber.

That was her response every time he told her those words. Of course, he thought. How could he go against his wife? But he believed the difference was negligible. How else could their relationship be so strong and secure?

He smiled wide and nuzzled into her.

∼•∽


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